Printing-machine.



W. H. THOMAS.

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED MAR.11.1907.

Wm%ss|5s;{ I INVENTORI 55.1[5 fi I PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908.

' a SHEETSSHEET 1.

No..831,167. PATENTED MAR 10 1908 W. H. THOMAS.

PRINTING MACHINE WITNESSES:

/M- ATTORNEYS- UNITED STA WILLIAM H. THOMAS, or NEW YORK, N. Y];

PRINTINGMAZCHINE.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

"to. se ner.

' To all whom-it may concern: I Be it known that I, WiLLIlAM H. THOMAS,

'a citizen of the United States, residing at:

-cotton cloth and other fa rics, wood, tin

L. peats so long as to be unnoticeable,='except s the very expensiveblock printing process by hand. wo rk The unnatural, conventional.

. and artificialcharacter of'this class of Work cannot be avoided-by thepresent practices.

' I In thetprintiri gfof handkerchiefs, rollers ofveryglargecircunrference may be used, but in .-pra'ctice theinconvenience of using large frollersgis so great that designs arerarely if everseen which do not repeat in less than twenty-five inches.

In typographicprinting, such as neWspaper work, the. engraving beingforms I which arefastened to the surface of a suitable 'cylinder,'- thesize of cylinder used may.

somewha greater and hence the repeat longer, in practice about fifty orsixty inches.

sdiAnything-rnuch greater than this, however,

l is "impracticableso fan as cyiinderprinting is 0on;c1 1f lfamrawarsthat prior. to my invention errai machines have been devised forprinting infrequent repeats. Theseinnachines er'nploy sonie'foru:eiflexible belt, such as gleather or rubber, upon the surface of whichthe type or printing forms are fastened. "Th enlachines are used,however, for printnotbe'usefull 'employed fr'or the printing ,flexibechara .aperilfea ico" r father r paper or cloth has heretofore beenFigure '1 1s a top :tudina -l section thereofgmi a portion of thechainofi-for P i to the metlind ofi-eennat myself to such use.

' time of a press havin ken matter, such-as letters, but they below. theformer andgs f' anunbroken esign such as is desired for at; of the belt'employedliniits the work to 10W grade, simple iprintmgs fre uent spacesduet 3th of t 1e engraved forms The disadvantages- 'n ualixbnl'tl' offlex ble material Il etreiverc dmenbyiemploying a chain, thesection-aofiwvhihlriare at iron, steel or simil-arinateriial. .MBy-fsuchmeans I obtain a solidrinyielrling baseifor. the printing formsWith-all:theaailvanta es of cylinder printing. Atytlr'ensame 'time ableto make the repeat-zofstmt zleng l 1 sired by connecting saiLflliQSlYbYl-l form a chain. 1, 5-

The invention will be znntlerstood by'lreference to the'accompanyirigzdrawin-gs irrwhich View; f bodyingmy invention {Fi with55 ret'chin art centralil ongi sidegwiew of :plates. a1idone of therollers or drums .WTBI'f-Whitlhilfi ispas sed; Fig. 4 a longitudinalsectional vieiwioiinthe i plane of the line 4-4 ;oi=.Eig:e,.fligsnihfli, 7 and 10 detail views ofenndificatiensnel ting ing theform plates; Fig. 8 a portions-0f .a-isurface printed by two, plates ofthe upper press- 0f 8O Fig. 1; and 9 a:p(irrtii1:- o printed surface. .3

Similar reference nueralssnidrcate snn' ar parts in the several views Inits simplest forinlith'e nvent prises an impression cylinder andea s'iofplates connected ge her tan-links as to constitute a chain, the.iprintingzziornisiibeing secured to said plates. ilelihaveishdwn inFigs. 1 and 2 two s11 0 &i $hDiw.serY=ing as acornplement to theothen-lt' plintnt e. complete design, -I done-t manypurposes a machchain of form plates'may illustration of a multiple ables me to givea-desera, p tion as applied to such'pne, Him

singleg'dhaing Referring now to t e gawigggs flame, lnioo of theLmachine supp 8i .Zar b the printing mechanis i Fi s. 1 and 2, comprises,.W in ers 2 and 3, the latte web of pa er,.cotton clei tli ;or er maypassrom the upper to the te der in proper working nelationath eitomiiz,

- and passes around two pairs of rollers lland 12, and the lower chainpasses around similar blocks byscrews material to be printed upon is fedfrom a suitable drum or roll 5 around the impression cylinders and iswound u on a drum or roll 6,

or otherwise disposedxo after the printing operation.

The essential feature of my invention re sides in the construction anddisposition of the several form plates. As shown, the forms 7 aresecured. upon the convex side of plates 8 "of rigid material, saidplates in practice having been made of iron or steel of sufiicicntthicknesses not to be flexed or distorted when in use, the purpose beingto present the printing forms to the impression cylinder u on a solid,unyielding base or support. n order to secure the advantages rollers 13and 14. Thepairs of rollers 1.2.and 14 in reality coiistitute printingcylinders. The shafts of these rollers are carried in journal b Xeswhich'may'be adjusted in their stood.

The plates 8 are curved, on the arc of a circle con-es onding to that ofthe rollers over which they pass so that when advanced to printingposition they will conform to and bear firmly 21 and 14. V

Any suitable arrangement ofbelting or gearing, may bB 'PIOVIdBd fordriving the chains. As shown in the drawings] the power shaft '16carries a pulley 17 which is I connected by belt 18 through pulley 19with a shaft 20.- -The shafts 16 and 20 have-adustable} bearings in themachine frame and ave keyed thereon two pairs of pulleys'21 and 22'respectively, one pair of said, pulleys 2.1 -1?assin'g around one bf'thepulleys 21Iand 22 at one-side of the being. shown in machine, is anendless belt 23 which is. caused from pulley 22 around the'ends of'theform to travel in the direction of the arrow in engagernent with oneendof the form so portngplates 8 as seen inlugs. 1 and 4; t at is,

su porting (plates 8 as the latter engage roller 11," an inengagementwith said 'lates until they leave the forward roller 12, tence around pulley21 into engagement with the endfsdof plates 8 on theower chain. A

Similar belt 24 -is in en agement with the pulleys 21 and .22 and t eform supporting plates Son the opposite side of the machine.

same? 15 as will be readily under against the peripheries of rollers Istituting the printlngl The belts 23 and 24 bear upon the ends of plates8 with. suliicient force to cause them to move forward "to printingposition without lost motion. The means described for driving the chainsis, however, not essential,

as other means may be employed with equal facility. Whatever (:lrivingmeans may be employed it is essential that the plates of the lowerchain. shall be so disposed as to register properly with the portion ofthe design printed by the upper. plates, both horizontally andvertically. In Fig. 8 l have shown aportion of a con ventional designprinted by two contiguous plates of the upper series, and in Fig. 9 aportion of the complete design, it being understood that these a'e onlyfragments. Fig. 8 shows a portion ,o'f the design as appearing at oneend of the plate, and Fig. 9 a complete design as it appears at theother end of 35 the plate.

In practice the plate f the two series are so ad 3' ustedrelat'ively tmother that the design will be com let-ed by a plate of the lower seriesprinting between the portions printed by two contiguous plates of theupper series.

By making the chains of suit able lengths, that is within practicalworking conditions, the length of the repeat may be anything desired. Ina press constructed by me the chains are about ten feet in len th andthe individual'form plates 8 about 've by thirty inches and the engravedforms 7 about three by twenty-four inches; These proportions, however,may be varied at will.

When using two series of form plates the loo connecting links 9.1nay besuch'as to permit the plates of a given series to abut or ap-' proacheach other when traveling between the supporting rollers.

is drawn taut, the plates being at that time their maximum distanceapart as indicated 1 in Fig. I

As beforestated, .my invention contemplates the use of a'singleseries-of form plates. 11o

n such case provision is madefor drawing the plates together as theypass into working relation with the impression cylinder so as to preventany break in the printing surface.

his is easily accomplished by. some form of link connection such asshown in Fi s. 5, 6, 7 or 10. In the form shown in 1g. -5 each plate 8is formedwith a depending car 24 carrying a stud by which said plate ispivotally'connected to an elbow link 25 on theimmediately followingplate. When assing between the supportin rollers theinks 25 assume theposition indicated at'the right-hand of Fig; 5. In order to properlyposition the form plates-I secure-curved 12 guides 26 to 'the spokes ofthe rollers con-- i cylinder. The guide 26 is so. positioned. t

passinto engaglement with the rollers 12-the ower' ends of t.

That portion of the Y chains passing around the printing cylinders:- 105at as'.the form plates e links. 25 will be thrown up- 1 6 wardtherebycausing the corresponding plate to close upon the immediatelypreceding plate thus forming a continuous cylindrical surface as clearlyindicated at the left of Fi 5. 'In Fig. 6 a slightly different form oflin connection is illustrated. In this form the plates are connected bylinks 29 having integral lugs or projections 27 pivo'tally connected ata point above the periphery of the and rigidity of cylinder printing,and at the plates. positionthe links 29 will be drawn apart but when theplates pass into contact with the rollers 12 the links 29 will be drawntogetherthus closing the gap between contiguous plates.

In Fig. 7 another form of link. connection is illustrated somewhatsimilar to that shown in Fig. 5. In this form the links 9 areconnected-to ether by a couple consisting of a substantialy T-shapedlink 28 and a short link 30. The curved guideplate 26 is used for thepurpose of rocking the'link .28, or causing itHto assume such positionas to draw the plates together. The chain of F ig: 10 is similar to thatof Fig. 3,'the gap between two contiguous plates being bridged by awedgeshaped plate 31 as they pass. around the rollers 12.

The bridge plates 31 are forced above the periphery of plates 8 when.the chain is horizontal and are gradually drawn down into place as achain passes around the printing cylinder. A

. The ink or coloring matter is furnished to the forms throughsuitable-rolls 29'.v

The present invention secures the solidity same time enables the makingof the repeat as long as may be desired Within practical workingconditions. When in printing position the chain is as rigid as thesurface of a cylinder, whereas when not in printing position the chainis' as flexible as needbe. Furthermore, there is nothing indefinite orun certain as to the relative positions of the various sections of thechain when ready to print. as is the case with belts of leather, rubber-or other flexible material. Each section of the chain or form platefalls into posi- When traveling in their horizontal tion without noticeable deviation, hence the various parts of the designregisterp'roperly.

While I have shown two ,chains of form plates, it is to be understoodthat Imay use three or more such chains each constructed and mounted inthe manner above described, and cooperatingwith a correspondingimpression cylinder. A press having three or more chains is moresuitable for color work.

What I claim and desire to secure b Letters Patent is: v

1. In a printing machine, an impression cylinder, an endless chainconsisting. of a plurality of form plates connected together by links,means for bringing said plates successively into working relation withthe impression cylinder, and means for moving adjacent plates intoabutting relation when in printing position to present an'unbrokencylindrical surface.

2. In a printlng machine, impression cylinders, an endless chain adaptedto cooperate with each of' said cylinders, each of .said chainsconsisting of a plurality of connected form .plates, and means formoving said chains so as to bring the plates thereof into workingrelation with a correspondingimpre'ssion cylinder, the-plates of onechain being disposed relatively to those of the other that theimpressions from one series of plates are other.

3. In a printing machine, an impression cylinder, an endless chainconsisting of -a' plurality of form plates conne'cted' to ether by acouple consisting offa substantia yT- complementalto those of the shapedlink and ashort link, said links being pivotally'conn'ected together,and means for rocking the T-link. to cause contiguous plates to abut. v

-In testimony whereof I' have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses. v

WILLIAM H. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

ROBERT W. ASHLEY, CHARLES S. Jones.-

